More than 400 million people are living with diabetes, and for many, that means regularly injecting themselves with the hormone insulin.

In the future, though, those people might be able to administer their insulin without needles, with a new oral insulin delivery system that has shown promise in diabetic rats.

Refusing Insulin Therapy

Most people’s bodies naturally produce insulin to convert blood sugar, or glucose, into energy, but people with diabetes either don’t produce insulin or they don’t produce enough of it.

Without that insulin, their blood sugar levels can be chronically high, which can cause heart disease, nerve damage, and a host of other health problems.

Daily injections of insulin can bring these blood sugar levels down, but a recent survey of more than 5,000 diabetics found that 43% of patients initially refused insulin therapy, leading to worse blood sugar control.

One of the most cited reasons why patients refuse insulin therapy is a fear of injections. Oral insulin would eliminate this issue — but people can’t just pop a couple of pills filled with insulin every day.

For the full article, click here.